Overall Orange alert Tropical Cyclone for OSCAR-24
in Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Cuba, United States

Event summary

Tropical Cyclone OSCAR-24 can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the maximum sustained wind speed, exposed population and vulnerability.

GDACS ID TC 1001114
Name OSCAR-24
From - To 19 Oct - 22 Oct
Exposed countries Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Cuba, United States
Exposed population 90 thousand in Category 1 or higher
Maximum wind speed 139 km/h Category 1
Maximum storm surge 0.5 m (22 Oct 22:00 UTC)
Vulnerability Medium (Turks & Caicos Is.)

GDACS Score

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Wind Storm surge Rainfall GDACS score
GDACS NOAA 56 km/h 0.3 m n.a. 0.5
Single TC: maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge, rainfall)
HWRF 184 km/h 0.7 m 969 mm 2.5
GFS 130 km/h 0.7 m 508 mm 0.5
ECMWF 104 km/h 0.7 m 386 mm 0.5
Maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge and rainfall) using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Cuba, The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos - Tropical cyclone OSCAR (ECHO 25 Oct 2024)Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:50

  • A new tropical cyclone named OSCAR formed over the western North Atlantic Ocean on 19 October in the afternoon (UTC) and started moving west toward Turks and Caicos islands (UK), strengthening. After it passed over Turks and Caicos and southern Bahamas on 20 October, as a category 1 hurricane and made landfall over the Baracoa city area (far eastern Cuba) on 20 October, with maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h (category 1 hurricane).
  • On 21 October at 6.00 UTC its centre was located inland approximately 30 km east of the Guantanamo city area, eastern Cuba, with maximum sustained winds of 95 km/h (tropical storm).
  • OSCAR is expected to continue inland over eastern Cuba on 21 October as a tropical storm. After that, it is forecast to turn northward and to re-enter in the Ocean toward central Bahamas on 22-23 October, remaining a tropical storm.
  • On 18 October, an incident in Cuba’s largest power plants left vast parts of the country without electricity during weekend, with continued blackouts still affecting most of the country, as of 21 October.
  • Over the next 48 hours, heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surges are forecast over eastern Cuba and southern and central Bahamas. NOAA has issued a tropical storm warning over these areas.
OSCAR-24 - EC/ECHO daily mapMon, 21 Oct 2024 17:04

A new EC/ECHO daily map is now available
Cuba, The Bahamas - Tropical cyclone OSCAR, update (ECHO 25 Oct 2024)Tue, 22 Oct 2024 10:31

  • Tropical cyclone OSCAR continued inland over south-eastern Cuba on 21 October, as a tropical storm, further weakening. On 22 October at 6.00 UTC its centre was located over the North Atlantic Ocean approximately 70 km south-west of the Crooked Island, far southern Bahamas, with maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h (tropical storm).
  • Its passage over south-eastern Cuba caused heavy rainfall and resulted in casualites and damage. Media reports, as 22 October, six fatalities across the San Antonio del Sur community, Guantanamo province. Several municipalities received more than 300 mm of rain, causing heavy flooding, severe damage to infrastructure and the blocking of roads and highways.
  • OSCAR is expected to pass over southern Bahamas (between the Crooked Island, and the Long Island) on 22 October, as a tropical storm, with maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h (tropical storm).
  • Over the next 24 hours, heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surges are still forecast over south-eastern Cuba and central and southern Bahamas. The tropical storm warning over central and southern Bahamas issued by NOAA remains in force.
Cuba, The Bahamas - Tropical cyclone OSCAR, update (ECHO 25 Oct 2024)Fri, 25 Oct 2024 09:03

  • Tropical cyclone OSCAR passed over southern Bahamas and south-eastern Cuba on 20-22 October as a category 1 hurricane (with maximum sustained winds of 139 km/h) and as a tropical storm, then dissipated over the western North Atlantic Ocean on 22 October. Its passage caused heavy rainfall, strong winds, storm surges and flooding that have resulted in casualties and damage.
  • In Cuba, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reports, as of 22 October, six fatalities in the province of Guantanamo, with about 15,000 people evacuated in the municipalities of Imías and San Antonio del Sur, in the southern Guantanamo Province. In addition, more than 1,800 houses have been affected in the municipalities of Maisí and Baracoa.
  • Over the next 48 hours, light rainfall is forecast over south-eastern Cuba and the southern Bahamas.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

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Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (40), (2), INFORM (2),